Antonio Conte gets his wish as Tottenham find their nasty streak in Fulham win – REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK

Harry Kane was once again Tottenham’s talisman as he inspired them to a 1-0 win over Fulham in the London derby on Monday night.

Kane proved to be the difference maker with a brilliant finish just before halftime.

Here Sportsmail’s DANIEL MATTHEWS picks out some key talking points and a few things you might have missed from Craven Cottage…

Harry Kane was Tottenham’s match winner again as they beat Fulham 1-0 on Monday night

Tottenham find their bite

They come back ugly. That was Antonio Conte’s message before this trip to London.

And to be fair, aggression didn’t prove to be an issue here. His problems in the first half were due more to negligence in possession. Perhaps nothing illustrated that more clearly than when Ivan Perisic attempted a quick throw-in and the ball never crossed the white line.

But Conte’s message seemed to break the ears of some players. Eric Dier set the tone in the first minute, when his defiant challenge turned shot nearly caught Bernd Leno. Rodrigo Bentancur and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg tried to make his presence felt.

Son-Heung min certainly succeeded, albeit accidentally. Maybe he was lucky he didn’t look red when he stepped on Kenny Tete’s ankle. Also Cristian Romero after the break, when his boot hit Aleksandar Mitrovic in the chest. Well, Conte can’t say they didn’t listen.

Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic was left in the heap after a poor tackle from Cristian Romero

Mitrovic was heartbroken after this tall foot of Spurs defender Romero hit him in the chest.

Midfielder turned decorator, Sean?

Fair play to Sean Davis. The former Tottenham and Fulham midfielder has been retired for more than a decade. He looks like he keeps himself busy enough, mind you. Davis arrived at Craven Cottage on Monday night wearing blue soccer socks, sneakers and a white paint-spattered tracksuit.

The 43-year-old writes a column for the Fulham website and also works for Club TV. Surely they haven’t hired him to give the new Riverside Stand a touch up as well? No, it turns out that Davis now works as a painter and decorator, apparently.

Unfortunate for whom? no harry…

There are two ways to read a jarring stat: In the first half, Harry Kane only had 13 touches, eight fewer than anyone else. It says a lot about his quality that he still predicted a tight game with a moment of magic.

It says more about Tottenham’s struggles to find its focal point. At first, the visitors lacked composure and precision on possession and the pressure from Fulham hounded them into making mistakes.

Kane only had 13 first-half touches for Spurs, but he still made the difference.

Another field, another goal from Kane…

Craven Cottage is the thirty-third different ground where Harry Kane has scored a Premier League goal. Only Andy Cole (37), Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney (both 34) have scored in more stadiums.

He has scored 24 goals from outside the box, only Kevin De Bruyne (25) has more since Kane’s debut.

Kane scored on his 33rd different Premier League pitch with this right footed shot

Roy is ‘Forever Fulham’

Former boss Roy Hodgson returned to Craven Cottage on Monday evening to receive the Forever Fulham award.

The 75-year-old, who spent three years here, received a warm welcome as he stepped onto the pitch and picked out his most cherished memorabilia.

Ex-Cottagers boss Roy Hodgson received a warm welcome as he collected the Forever Fulham award

Chaos in the TFL!

Panic gripped an observer Monday night when he parked his car a few minutes from Craven Cottage and noticed something strange. He was so quiet, the side streets around the stadium were so deserted.

In some places, the police outnumbered the fans. There was only one horrible conclusion. ‘Yes, the game is at Tottenham, isn’t it?’ he thought he. He was wrong, fortunately. But he was also right. The cabin was pretty creepy. Even when the home team bus came into view, Marco Silva’s players were greeted by only a handful of supporters. Not the most enthusiastic welcome. But with good reason.

With around an hour to go, the Circle, District, Elizabeth, Hammersmith & City, Jubilee, Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines were suspended or delayed. Chaos on the London Underground and not even Mick Lynch is to blame. Ah well, nothing a 15 minute delay can’t fix…

Craven Cottage was rather unsettling in the build-up to Fulham’s clash with Tottenham on Monday

The start was delayed by 15 minutes as a result of several suspended or delayed metro lines